Enhancements to Service Access Restrictions for 5G New Radio (NR)

Abstract

The present disclosure describes exemplary embodiments and techniques for addressing UE behavior for various SAR usage cases. Substate selection for a UE having a valid SAR list and currently camping on a cell (that cell is in a registered PLMN, or a PLMN from a list of equivalent PLMNs, and the cell's TAI is not in the list of "Allowed Trace Regions") or camping on a cell (that cell's TAI is in the list of "Unallowed Trace Regions") has gaps in functionality and specific usage cases. Conflicting requirements exist regarding which substate to be selected by the UE. Additionally, there are specific behaviors missing for the UE in the substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE.

Description

Technology Field

[0001] This application generally relates to wireless communication systems including a service access restriction function. Background Technology

[0002] Wireless mobile communication technology uses various standards and protocols to transmit data between a base station and a wireless mobile device. Wireless communication system standards and protocols may include 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) Long Term Evolution (LTE) (e.g., 4G) or NR (new radio) (e.g., 5G); the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.16 standard, commonly known to industry groups as WiMAX (worldwide interoperability for microwave access); and the IEEE 802.11 standard for WLAN (wireless local area network), commonly known to industry groups as Wi-Fi. In 3GPP RANs (radio access networks) of LTE systems, base stations may include RAN nodes such as E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network) Node B (also commonly referred to as Evolved Node B, Enhanced Node B, eNodeB, or eNB) and / or E-UTRAN's RNC (Radio Network Controller), which communicate with radio communication devices known as user equipment (UE). In 5th generation (5G) radio RANs, RAN nodes may include 5G nodes, NR nodes (also referred to as next-generation Node B or g Node B (gNB)).

[0003] RANs use radio access technology (RAT) to communicate between RAN nodes and UEs. RANs may include global system for mobile communications (GSM), enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE) RAN, Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), and / or E-UTRAN, which provide access to communication services through the core network. Each RAN operates according to a specific 3GPP RAT. For example, GERAN implements GSM and / or EDGE RAT, UTRAN implements universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) RAT or other 3GPP RAT, E-UTRAN implements LTE RAT, and NG-RAN implements 5G RAT. In certain deployments, E-UTRAN may also implement 5G RAT.

[0004] Frequency bands for 5G NR may be separated into two different frequency ranges. Frequency range 1 (FR1) may include frequency bands operating at sub-6 GHz frequencies, some of which are bands available under previous standards and may potentially be extended to cover new spectrum offerings from 410 MHz to 7125 MHz. Frequency range 2 (FR2) may include frequency bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. Bands within the millimeter wave (mmWave) range of FR2 may have smaller coverage than the bands within FR1 but may potentially have higher available bandwidth. Those skilled in the art will recognize that these frequency ranges provided as examples may change over time or zone by zone. Brief explanation of the drawing

[0005] To facilitate the identification of discussions regarding any specific element or action, the top digit or numbers of the drawing number refer to the drawing number where the element was first introduced. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for wireless communications according to one embodiment. FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart according to one embodiment. FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart according to one embodiment. FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart according to one embodiment. FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart according to one embodiment. FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart according to one embodiment. FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart according to one embodiment. FIG. 8 is a block diagram according to one embodiment. Specific details for implementing the invention

[0006] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary architecture of a network system (100) according to various embodiments. The following description is provided for an exemplary system (100) operating with LTE system standards and 5G system (5GS) or NR system standards as provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, exemplary embodiments are not limited thereto, and the described embodiments may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., 6th generation (6G) systems), IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.).

[0007] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the system (100) includes UE (122) and UE (120). In this example, the UE (122) and the UE (120) are exemplified as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices capable of connecting to one or more cellular networks), but also any mobile or non-mobile computing device, e.g., consumer electronic devices, cellular phones, smartphones, feature phones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, instrument clusters (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices, onboard diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashboard mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDT), electronic engine management systems (EEMS), electronic / engine control units (ECUs), electronic / engine control modules (ECMs), embedded systems, It may include microcontrollers, control modules, EMS (engine management systems), networked or "smart" devices, MTC devices, M2M, IoT devices, etc.

[0008] In some embodiments, the UE (122) and / or UE (120) may be IoT UEs, and may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-life UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as MTC or M2M to exchange data with an MTC server or device via PLMN, ProSe or D2D communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), using short-life connections. The IoT UEs may run background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connections in the IoT network.

[0009] UE (122) and UE (120) may be configured to be connected to an access node or a wireless access node (illustrated as (R)AN (108)), for example, to be coupled to communicate with it. In embodiments, (R)AN (108) may be an NG RAN or SG RAN, E-UTRAN, or legacy RAN, such as UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, terms “NG RAN,” etc. may refer to (R)AN (108) operating in an NR or SG system, and terms “E-UTRAN,” etc. may refer to (R)AN (108) operating in an LTE or 4G system. UE (122) and UE (120) utilize connections (or channels) (illustrated as connection (104) and connection (102), respectively), each of which includes a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in more detail below).

[0010] In this example, the connection (104) and the connection (102) are air interfaces for enabling communication coupling and may be compatible with cellular communication protocols, such as GSM protocol, CDMA network protocol, PTT protocol, POC protocol, UMTS protocol, 3GPP LTE protocol, SG protocol, NR protocol, and / or any of other communication protocols discussed herein. In the embodiments, the UE (122) and the UE (120) may directly exchange communication data through the ProSe interface (110). The ProSe interface (110) may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink (SL) interface (110) and may include one or more logic channels, including but not limited to PSCCH, PSSCH, PSDCH, and PSBCH.

[0011] The UE (120) is illustrated as being configured to access the AP (112) (also referred to as "WLAN node," "WLAN," "WLAN end," "WT," etc.) via a connection (124). The connection (124) may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection conforming to any IEEE 802.11 protocol, where the AP (112) will include a Wi-Fi® (wireless fidelity) router. In this example, the AP (112) may be connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in more detail below). In various embodiments, the UE (120), (R)AN (108), and AP (112) may be configured to use LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. LWA operation may involve the UE (120) being in RRC_CONNECTED configured by the RAN node (114) or RAN node (116) to use LTE and WLAN wireless resources. LWIP operation may involve the UE (120) using WLAN wireless resources (e.g., connection (124)) through IPsec protocol tunneling to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) transmitted through the connection (124). IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entire original IP packets and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packets.

[0012] (R)AN (108) may include one or more AN nodes, such as RAN nodes (114) and RAN nodes (116), that enable connections (104) and connections (102). As used herein, terms “access node,” “access point,” etc. may describe equipment that provides wireless baseband functions for data and / or voice connections between a network and one or more users. Such access nodes may be referred to as BS, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs, or TRPs, etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., ground access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographical area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, terms “NG RAN node,” etc. may refer to a RAN node operating in an NR or SG system (e.g., gNB), and terms “E-UTRAN node,” etc. may refer to a RAN node operating in an LTE or 4G system (100) (e.g., eNB). According to various embodiments, the RAN node (114) or RAN node (116) may be implemented as one or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station, and / or a low power (LP) base station for providing femtocells, picocells, or other similar cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

[0013] In some embodiments, all or part of the RAN node (114) or RAN node (116) may be implemented as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as CRAN and / or vBBUP (virtual baseband unit pool). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP comprises a RAN functional partition, such as a PDCP partition where RRC and PDCP layers are operated by CRAN / vBBUP and other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes (e.g., RAN node (114) or RAN node (116)); a MAC / PHY partition where RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by CRAN / vBBUP and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes (e.g., RAN node (114) or RAN node (116)); Alternatively, a “lower PHY” partitioning may be implemented in which the upper parts of the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers and PHY layer are operated by CRAN / vBBUP and the lower parts of the PHY layer are operated by individual RAN nodes. This virtualized framework allows the freed-up processor cores of the RAN node (114) or RAN node (116) to perform other virtualized applications. In some embodiments, individual RAN nodes may represent individual gNB-DUs connected to the gNB-CU via individual F1 interfaces (not shown in FIG. 1). In these embodiments, the gNB-DUs may include one or more radio heads or RFEMs, and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server located in the (R)AN (108) (not shown) or by a server pool in a manner similar to CRAN / vBBUP.Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes (114) or RAN nodes (116) may be next-generation eNBs (ng-eNBs), which are RAN nodes that provide E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol endpoints toward the UE (122) and UE (120) and connect to the SGC via the NG interface (discussed below). In V2X scenarios, one or more of the RAN nodes (114) or RAN nodes (116) may be RSUs or may act as them.

[0014] The terms "Roadside Unit" or "RSU" may refer to any transport infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, wherein an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU," an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU," an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU," and so on. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with a radio frequency circuitry located on the roadside that provides connectivity support for passing vehicle UEs (vUEs). An RSU may also include an internal data storage circuitry for storing cross-map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications / software for detecting and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate in the 5.9 GHz Direct Short Range Communications (DSRC) band to provide very low-latency communications required for high-speed events such as collision avoidance and traffic alerts. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate in the cellular V2X band to provide other cellular communication services as well as the aforementioned low-latency communications. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and / or provide uplink and downlink communications by providing a connection to one or more cellular networks. Part or all of the computing device(s) and the radio frequency circuitry of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation and may include a network interface controller for providing a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and / or backhaul network.

[0015] The RAN node (114) and / or the RAN node (116) may terminate the air interface protocol and may be a first contact point for the UE (122) and the UE (120). In some embodiments, the RAN node (114) and / or the RAN node (116) may perform various logical functions for the (R)AN (108), including but not limited to wireless network controller (RNC) functions such as wireless bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic wireless resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0016] In the embodiments, the UE (122) and the UE (120) may be configured to communicate with each other or with the RAN node (114) and / or the RAN node (116) using OFDM communication signals over a multicarrier communication channel according to various communication techniques, such as but not limited to OFDMA communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communications) or SC-FDMA communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0017] In some embodiments, the downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from the RAN node (114) and / or the RAN node (116) to the UE (122) and UE (120), whereas uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink within each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, making it intuitive for wireless resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot within a wireless frame. The minimum time-frequency unit in the resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid contains a plurality of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of a given physical channel to the resource elements. Each resource block contains a set of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum amount of resources currently available for allocation. There exist several different physical downlink channels that are transmitted using such resource blocks.

[0018] According to various embodiments, the UE (122) and UE (120) and the RAN node (114) and / or RAN node (116) communicate data (e.g., transmit and receive) through a licensed medium (also referred to as "licensed spectrum" and / or "licensed band") and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as "unlicensed spectrum" and / or "unlicensed band"). The licensed spectrum may include channels operating in a frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, while the unlicensed spectrum may include a 5 GHz band.

[0019] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UE (122) and the UE (120) and the RAN node (114) or RAN node (116) may operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these embodiments, the UE (122) and the UE (120) and the RAN node (114) or RAN node (116) may perform one or more known medium sensing operations and / or carrier sensing operations to determine whether one or more channels within the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or otherwise occupied before transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium / carrier sensing operations may be performed according to the listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0020] LBT is a mechanism that enables equipment (e.g., UE (122) and UE (120), and RAN node (114) or RAN node (116), etc.) to detect a medium (e.g., a channel or carrier frequency) and transmit when the medium is detected to be idle (or when a specific channel within the medium is detected to be unoccupied). The medium detection operation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine the presence or absence of other signals on the channel to determine whether the channel is occupied or clear. This LBT mechanism allows cellular / LAA networks to coexist with current systems and other LAA networks within the unlicensed spectrum. ED may include detecting RF energy across the intended transmission band for a certain period of time and comparing the detected RF energy with a predefined or configured threshold.

[0021] Typically, existing systems within the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technologies. WLANs utilize a contention-based channel access mechanism called CSMA / CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE (122), AP (112), etc.) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may perform CCA before transmitting. Additionally, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions in situations where more than one WLAN node detects the channel as idle and transmits simultaneously. The backoff mechanism may be a counter randomly generated within the CWS, which increments exponentially upon the occurrence of a collision and is reset to a minimum value upon successful transmission. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the WLAN's CSMA / CA. In some embodiments, the LBT procedure for DL ​​or UL transmit bursts, each containing PDSCH or PUSCH transmits, may have an LAA contention window of variable length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are the minimum and maximum values ​​for CWS for LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for LAA transmit may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWS and MCOT (e.g., transmit burst) may be based on government regulatory requirements.

[0022] LAA mechanisms are built upon the CA technologies of LTE Advanced systems. In CA, each aggregated carrier is referred to as a CC. A CC can have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, or 20 MHz, and up to five CCs can be aggregated, so the maximum aggregated bandwidth is 100 MHz. In FDD systems, the number of aggregated carriers may differ for DL ​​and UL, where the number of UL CCs is less than or equal to the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, individual CCs may have different bandwidths from other CCs. In TDD systems, not only the number of CCs but also the bandwidths of each CC are typically the same for DL ​​and UL.

[0023] CA also includes individual serving cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage of serving cells may differ, for example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience different path losses. A primary service cell, or PCell, can provide PCCs for both UL and DL and handle RRC and NAS-related activities. Other serving cells are referred to as SCells, and each SCell can provide individual SCCs for both UL and DL. SCCs can be added and removed as needed, whereas changing a PCC may require the UE (122) to undergo a handover. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in unlicensed spectrum (referred to as "LAA SCells"), and LAA SCells are assisted by PCells operating in licensed spectrum. When a UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE can receive UL approvals on the configured LAA SCells indicating different PUSCH start locations within the same subframe.

[0024] The PDSCH returns user data and upper-layer signaling to the UE (122) and UE (120). The PDCCH returns, among other things, information regarding transmission formats and resource allocations associated with the PDSCH channel. It may also notify the UE (122) and UE (120) regarding transmission formats, resource allocations, and HARQ information associated with the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocating control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE (120) within the cell) may be performed at either the RAN node (114) or the RAN node (116) based on channel quality information fed back from either the UE (122) or the UE (120). Downlink resource allocation information may be transmitted over the PDCCH used (e.g., allocated to it) for each of the UE (122) and UE (120).

[0025] PDCCH transmits control information using CCEs. Before being mapped to resource elements, PDCCH complex symbols can first be organized into quadruplets, which can then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE corresponds to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as REGs. Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the DCI size and channel conditions, PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L = 1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0026] Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for control channel information that are extensions of the concepts described above. For example, some embodiments may use EPDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for transmitting control information. EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more ECCEs. Similarly to the above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as EREGs. An ECCE may have a different number of EREGs in some situations.

[0027] A RAN node (114) or a RAN node (116) may be configured to communicate with each other through an interface (130). In embodiments where the system (100) is an LTE system (e.g., when CN (106) is an EPC), the interface (130) may be an X2 interface. An X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to an EPC, and / or between two eNBs connected to an EPC. In some embodiments, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). X2-U may provide flow control mechanisms for user data packets transmitted through the X2 interface and may be used to communicate information regarding the transmission of user data between eNBs. For example, X2-U may provide specific sequence number information for user data transmitted from a MeNB to a SeNB; It may provide information regarding the successful sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs from SeNB to UE (122) for user data; information regarding PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to UE (122); information regarding the current minimum desired buffer size in SeNB for transmitting user data to UE, etc. X2-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility functions, including context delivery from source to target eNBs, user plane transmission control, etc.; load management functions; as well as inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0028] In embodiments where the system (100) is an SG or NR system (e.g., when CN (106) is an SGC), the interface (130) may be an Xn interface. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to the SGC, between a RAN node (114) (e.g., gNB) connected to the SGC and an eNB, and / or between two eNBs connected to the 5GC (e.g., CN (106)). In some embodiments, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. Xn-U provides non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and may support / provide data forwarding and flow control functions. Xn-C provides management and error handling functions, functions for managing the Xn-C interface; Mobility support for a UE (122) in a connection mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) may be provided, which includes a function for managing UE mobility for a connection mode between one or more RAN nodes (114) or RAN nodes (116). Mobility support may include context transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node (114) to a new (target) serving RAN node (116); and control of user plane tunnels between the old (source) serving RAN node (114) and the new (target) serving RAN node (116). The protocol stack of Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on top of an Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer built on top of UDP and / or IP layer(s) for returning user plane PDUs. The protocol stack of Xn-C may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer built on SCTP. SCTP can sit on top of the IP layer and can provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages.At the transport IP layer, point-to-point transmission is used to deliver signaling PDUs. In other embodiments, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or Xn-C protocol stack may be identical or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stack(s) illustrated and described herein.

[0029] (R)AN (108) is illustrated as being communicably coupled to a core network, in this embodiment, a CN (106). The CN (106) may include one or more network elements (132), which are configured to provide various data and telecommunications services to customers / subscribers (e.g., UE (122) and users of UE (120)) connected to the CN (106) through the (R)AN (108). The components of the CN (106) may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transient machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the network node functions described above through executable instructions stored on one or more computer-readable storage media (described in more detail below). A logical instantiation of CN (106) may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a part of CN (106) may be referred to as a network subslice. NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions performed on physical resources, including a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches, or alternatively by proprietary hardware. In other words, NFV systems may be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0030] Generally, the application server (118) may be an element that provides applications using IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domains, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server (118) may also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UE (122) and UE (120) via the EPC. The application server (118) may communicate with the CN (106) via the IP communication interface (136).

[0031] In embodiments, CN (106) may be an SGC, and (R)AN (116) may be connected to CN (106) through an NG interface (134). In embodiments, the NG interface (134) may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface (126) that carries traffic data between the RAN node (114) or RAN node (116) and the UPF, and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface (128) which is a signaling interface between the RAN node (114) or RAN node (116) and the access and mobility management functions (AMF).

[0032] In the embodiments, CN (106) may be an SG CN, whereas in other embodiments, CN (106) may be an EPC. If CN (106) is an EPC, (R)AN (116) may be connected to CN (106) through an S1 interface (134). In the embodiments, the S1 interface (134) may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface (126) that carries traffic data between the RAN node (114) or RAN node (116) and the S-GW, and an S1-MME interface (128) which is a signaling interface between the RAN node (114) or RAN node (116) and the MMEs.

[0033] In relation to the 5GS Mobility Management (5GMM) protocol, pursuant to Release 16 of 3GPP TS 24.501, Section 5.3.5, a UE, such as UE (122), may be restricted in service based on tracking areas (138) (TA) that form either an allowed area or a disallowed area. The allowed or disallowed area is established from a list of tracking area identities (140) (TAI list, or simply TAI) that the network transmits to the UE in a restriction-accept or configuration-update command containing a service area list information element (IE). The TAI list is a list of areas (registered areas) where the UE is considered to be registered. The service area restriction (SAR) list is a list of tracking areas in which each TA is tagged as either "allowed" or "disallowed".

[0034] Based on the allowed or non-allowed zones, the services available to the UE are determined. In the allowed zone, the UE is in normal service so that the UE can leverage all 5G services. However, when the UE is in the non-allowed zone (i.e., when the specification has restrictions on the services that can be used), the available services and the corresponding UE behavior are guided by a sub-state called 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE. Thus, previously under 3GPP TS 24.501, whenever a UE camped on a cell (that cell is a registered PLMN, or a PLMN from the list of equivalent PLMNs, and the cell's TAI is not in the list of "allowed tracking zones") or camped on a cell (that cell's TAI is in the list of "non-allowed tracking zones"), the UE was identified as being in 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE.

[0035] Substate selection for a UE having a valid SAR list and currently camping on a cell (that cell is a registered PLMN, or a PLMN from a list of equivalent PLMNs, and that cell's TAI is not in the list of "Allowed Trace Regions") or camping on a cell (that cell's TAI is in the list of "Unallowed Trace Regions") has gaps in functionality and specific use cases. Conflicting requirements exist regarding which substate to be selected by the UE. Additionally, there are specific behaviors for the UE that are missing in the substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE. This disclosure describes exemplary embodiments and techniques for addressing UE behavior for such use cases.

[0036] In the first exemplary scenario under previous specifications, there is ambiguity regarding substate selection and related issues. In a restricted service area, the UE can perform mobility registrations and period registrations, use urgent services, respond to paging, and perform high-priority data access. The UE can use these critical, essential, or high-priority services, but the UE cannot use them for typical data services, etc. If mobility and period registrations are allowed, the UE may become trapped in other substates.

[0037] Specifically, the following two sections pursuant to Release 16 of 3GPP TS 24.501 imply that unless the UE is registered with the PLMN and is not successfully registered in the current registration zone, the UE may subsequently move to the substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE. Section 1, "5.1.3.2.1.4.3 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE" indicates that for 3GPP access, if the cell selected by the UE is known to be in a non-allowed zone, the substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE is selected by the UE. Section 2, "5.3.5.2 3GPP Access Service Area Restrictions," indicates that when a UE is successfully registered with a PLMN and has a stored list of "Allowed Trace Areas," the UE must enter the status 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE while camping on a cell (that cell is in a registered PLMN or a PLMN from the list of equivalent PLMNs, and the cell's TAI is not in the list of "Allowed Trace Areas").

[0038] The specific behaviors described above can cause mismatches with expected UE behavior when accompanied by substates other than 5GMM-REGISTERED.NORMAL-SERVICE. For example, consider the following sequence and resulting problems. First, the UE successfully registers with PLMN A and receives a SAR list containing TA1, TA2, and TA3 as non-allowed areas. However, the current registration area contains TA1 and TA2. These "registration areas" are generally referred to as TAI lists. Second, the UE moves to TA3 and attempts mobility registration. Due to the cell where mobile originated (MO) signaling is blocked, the registration procedure is rejected by the lower layers. Third, now in accordance with the specifications above, the UE selects 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE. This is because the UE is registered with the PLMN and there is a 5GMM context available for both the UE and the network. However, the current TA registration was unsuccessful. A UE that is not camping on to a TA restricted by the SAR list would have selected the substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.UPDATE-NEEDED. And in this substate, upon the mitigation of the block, the UE would have attempted Mobility registration again in accordance with "5.2.3.2.7 UPDATE-NEEDED", and under that, as soon as the lower layers indicate that the block is mitigated for the access category associated with the access attempt to the registration procedure for Mobility and Periodic Registration Updates, the UE must enter the appropriate new substates. However, if the UE is in the substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE, when MO signaling failed due to the block and consequently, the mitigation of the block cannot be leveraged as a trigger for registration, the UE 5GMM-REGISTERED.Since it is not expected to be in any substate other than UPDATE-NEEDED, such error handling does not exist.

[0039] The specific behaviors described above can also trigger the following situation. First, the UE successfully registers with PLMN A and receives a SAR list containing TA1, TA2, and TA3 as non-allowed zones. However, the current registration zones are TA1 and TA2. Second, the UE moves to TA3 and attempts mobility registration. Mobility registration fails due to a lower-level failure. Third, now, according to the existing entry for non-allowed service substates, since the UE is registered with the PLMN, the UE eventually selects NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE as the substate and starts timer T3511. A UE without service zone restrictions would have moved to 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE. Fourth, after the expiration of timer T3511, the UE retries mobility registration. However, again, this fails due to a lower-level failure. Fifth, the UE now moves to TA2. At this point, the behavior regarding resetting the attempt counter / stopping T3502 (etc.) changes if the UE selects NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE as the substate. It becomes ambiguous what state the UE should eventually be in, and whether the UE must take actions related to the substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE to change the TA, even though the substate is 5GMM-REGISTERED,NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE.

[0040] The aforementioned situation is based on one reference in "5.5.1 Registration Procedure", "5.5.1.1 General", and two references in "5.5.1.3.2 Mobility and Initiation of Periodic Registration Updates". For all three references, the UE does not take actions because it is in the NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate, but these must actually be applicable. Specifically, "5.5.1 Registration Procedure" and "5.5.1.1 General" state that when the UE is in the substate 5GMM-DEREGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION or 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE, the registration attempt counter must be reset when it enters a new trace area, when timer T3502 expires, or when timer T3346 starts. Additionally, “5.5.1.3.2 Mobility and Initiation of Periodic Registration Updates” describes additional UE actions when a UE in the substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE decides to request new network slices after being denied any allowed network slices because they were not requested; and when a UE in the state 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE receives a request from upper layers to establish an urgent PDU session or perform an urgent service fallback. However, in the non-allowed area, the UE must initiate these aforementioned actions even though it is in the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate.

[0041] Additional such ambiguous cases are also resolved in this disclosure. Generally, these cases arise in relation to prior implementations under 3GPP TS 24.501, where behavior is associated with a specific substate and is ultimately not applicable to a UE of 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE. This causes problems in UE behavior as described above. Therefore, always selecting 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE as a substate can ultimately lead to misunderstanding and cause errors in UE behavior. To resolve the ambiguity in substate selection and related problems in the 5GMM protocol, the UE maintains an appropriate substate that more accurately reflects the appropriate set of pending actions for the UE, for example, according to the following two embodiments.

[0042] The first embodiment involves service area restrictions associated with the tracking area of ​​the cell on which the UE camps, rather than specific 5GMM substates. In other words, the intention is to avoid restrictions imposed on the state, and instead facilitate imposing them based on checking whether the UE's current TAI is part of a non-allowed area or not part of an allowed area. FIG. 2 illustrates, in block (202), routine (200) determining criteria including whether the current tracking area is included in the registration area, whether the update status in the UE is a 5GS update (5U) status 5U1 (i.e., UPDATED, the last registration attempt was successful), and whether the cell is part of a registered public terrestrial mobile network (PLMN) or an equivalent PLMN that is not part of a non-allowed area or an allowed area. In block (204), routine (200) selects the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate in response to determining that the criteria are satisfied.

[0043] Therefore, since the previously available criteria currently imposed by the specification also encompass other substates and are very general criteria that cause problems, clearer criteria are provided for entering the substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE. In addition to those criteria, the UE will select the corresponding existing substates and apply restrictions thereto. The UE selects 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE in response when the current TA is part of the registered area and the state in the UE is 5U1, and the UE camps on a cell that belongs to a registered PLMN or an equivalent PLMN that is, for example, (a) part of the non-allowed area or (b) part of the allowed area, to which SARs are applied.

[0044] Additionally, in the substates 5GMM-REGISTERED.UPDATE-NEEDED and 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE, if a UE camps on a cell that is part of the non-allowed zone or camps on a cell of a registered PLMN or equivalent PLMN that is not part of the allowed zone, all restrictions applicable in the substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE are also applicable in the current substate.

[0045] For completeness, the first embodiment is now described by exemplary changes to the TS 24.501 specification, “5.3.5.2 3GPP Access Service Area Limitations” as described below. If a UE is successfully registered with a PLMN, and the 5GS update status is 5U1, and the UE camps on to a cell (the cell’s TAI is part of the TAI list), and the UE has a stored list of “Allowed Trace Areas,” then (a) while camping on to the cell (the cell’s TAI is in the list of “Allowed Trace Areas”), the UE must remain in or enter the status 5GMM-REGISTERED.NORMAL-SERVICE and is permitted to initiate any 5GMM and 5GSM procedures; (b) While camping on a cell (that cell is a registered PLMN, or a PLMN from the list of equivalent PLMNs, and the cell's TAI is not in the list of "Allowed Trace Areas"), the UE must enter the state 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE. If the UE is successfully registered to a PLMN, the 5GS update status is 5U1, the UE is camping on a cell (that cell's TAI is part of the TAI list), and the UE has a stored list of "Unallowed Trace Areas," then (a) While camping on a cell (that cell is a registered PLMN, or a PLMN from the list of equivalent PLMNs, and the cell's TAI is not in the list of "Unallowed Trace Areas"), the UE must remain in or enter the state 5GMM-REGISTERED.NORMAL-SERVICE and is permitted to initiate any 5GMM and 5GSM procedures; (b) While camping on a cell (the cell's TAI is in the list of "Non-Allowed Tracking Areas"), the UE must enter state 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE. Therefore, the UE is in the sub-state 5GMM-REGISTERED.If you are in ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE or substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.UPDATE-NEEDED and camp on a cell (that cell is a registered PLMN, or a PLMN from the list of equivalent PLMNs, and that cell's TAI is not in the list of "Allowed Trace Areas") or camp on a cell (that cell's TAI is in the list of "Unallowed Trace Areas"), all restrictions applicable when in substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE must apply to the current substate.

[0046] The second embodiment involves additional actions for the UE of 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE, namely additional behaviors of essentially logical “ORing” using existing substate procedures. FIG. 3 illustrates that in block (302), routine (300) moves to the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate and initiates mobility registration in the 5GMM.REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate in response to the UE’s registration being rejected by the network due to the absence of any allowed network slices. In block (304), routine (300) is in the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate and, when it receives a request from upper layers to establish an emergency PDU session or perform an emergency service fallback, if the update state of the UE is other than 5U1 or if the current tracking area is not part of the registration area, it initiates mobility registration in the 5GMM.REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate.

[0047] As long as the UE is registered in the PLMN, if the UE is intended to enter the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE and the UE camps on a cell that is part of the non-allowed area or camps on a cell within the current PLMN or an equivalent PLMN that is not part of the allowed area, the UE may implement the following enhancements described below by exemplary updates to TS 24.501. Two exemplary embodiments are as follows, followed by a second embodiment described by exemplary changes to the TS 24.501 specification for completeness.

[0048] First, "5.5.1.3.2 Initiation of Mobility and Periodic Registration Updates" describes when a UE in the substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE decides to request new network slices after being denied any allowed network slices because they were not requested. In this case, the UE may initiate mobility registration in the substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE as in the above case. Alternatively, when in the substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE and the UE has at least one single Network Slice Selection Auxiliary (S-NSSAI) in the Allowed Network Slice Selection Auxiliary (NSSAI), it is possible that the UE is not allowed to request access to new slices other than those associated with high priority or urgent services.

[0049] Second, "5.5.1.3.2 Initiation of Mobility and Periodic Registration Updates" describes when a UE in state 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE receives a request from upper layers to establish an urgent PDU session or perform an urgent service fallback. In such cases, if the update state is other than 5U1 or if the current TA is not part of the registration plane, the UE may initiate mobility registration while in the lower state 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE.

[0050] Under "5.6.2.2 Paging for 5GS Services", upon receiving a paging indication, the UE must stop timer T3346 if it is running, and (A) if control plane CIoT 5GS optimization is not used by the UE, and the UE is in the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NORMAL-SERVICE substate and the UE is in 5GMM-IDLE mode without a break indication, the UE must initiate a service request procedure over 3GPP access to respond to the paging as specified in sub-clauses 5.6.1.2.1; and (B) if control plane CIoT 5GS optimization is used by the UE, and the UE is in the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NORMAL-SERVICE state and the UE is in 5GMM-IDLE mode without a break indication, the UE must initiate a service request procedure over 3GPP access as specified in sub-clauses 5.6.1.2.2. The above scenarios may also be applicable to 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE.

[0051] A second embodiment will now be described by exemplary changes to the TS 24.501 specification, "5.5.1 Registration Procedure", "5.5.1.1 General". The registration attempt counter must be reset when the UE is in the substate 5GMM-DEREGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION or 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE or 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE and enters a new trace area; when timer T3502 expires; or when timer T3346 starts.

[0052] A second embodiment will now be described by exemplary changes to the TS 24.501 specification, "5.5.1.3.2 Mobility and Initiation of Periodic Registration Updates." It describes when a UE in state 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE or 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE decides to request new network slices after being denied any allowed network slices because they were not requested; and when a UE in state 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE or 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE receives a request from upper layers to establish an emergency PDU session or perform an emergency service fallback.

[0053] A second embodiment will now be described by exemplary changes to TS 24.501 specification, "5.3.7 Handling of Periodic Registration Update Timers and Mobile Reachability Timers". If a UE is not registered for urgent services and is in a state other than 5GMM-REGISTERED.NORMAL-SERVICE or 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE across 3GPP access when timer T3512 expires, the periodic registration update procedure is delayed until the UE returns to 5GMM-REGISTERED.NORMAL-SERVICE or 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE across 3GPP access.

[0054] A second embodiment will now be described by exemplary changes to TS 24.501 specification, "5.6.2.2 Paging for 5GS Services". Upon receipt of a paging indication, the UE must stop timer T3346 if it is running, and (a) if control plane CIoT 5GS optimization is not being used by the UE, the UE must initiate a service request procedure across 3GPP access to respond to the paging as specified in subsections 5.6.1.2.1, if the UE is in the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NORMAL-SERVICE state or 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE state and the UE is in 5GMM-IDLE mode without a interruption indication; (b) If control plane CIoT 5GS optimization is used by the UE, the UE must initiate a service request procedure across 3GPP access as specified in sub-clause 5.6.1.2.2 when the UE is in the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NORMAL-SERVICE state or 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE state and the UE is in 5GMM-IDLE mode without interruption indication.

[0055] A variation of the first embodiment is to completely remove these 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substates, which are criteria for imposing service area restrictions. This entails enforcing restrictions based solely on the UE camping on a cell that is part of the restricted area.

[0056] FIG. 4 illustrates that in block (402), routine (400) selects a 5GMM substate other than the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate. In block (404), routine (400) selects a 5GMM substate and, in response to the UE camping on in the registration area to which SAR applies, applies the restrictions associated with 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE in addition to any restrictions to which the selected state may already be associated.

[0057] The UE does not need to use these additional 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substates. Subsequently, restrictions related to SARs are imposed based solely on whether the UE is currently camping on a cell that is part of the non-allowed zone or camping on a cell within the current PLMN or equivalent PLMN that is not part of the allowed zone. Instead, the UE will select the existing 5GMM substates defined in TS 24.501. And, whenever in these substates, as defined for the 5GMM protocol in TS 24.501, the UE is also camping on a registration zone to which SARs apply, and all these restrictions will be applicable to the UE at that time additionally (i.e., in addition to any restrictions the UE substate may be subject to according to TS 24.501).

[0058] Another problem with 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE is that there are no techniques to handle PDU release procedures in this substate. For example, according to the existing 5GMM protocol, 5GSM procedures are not allowed when the UE is in 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE. Therefore, UE behavior for releasing a PDU session in this substate is not optimal. According to the existing flow, (1) 5GSM will attempt to release the PDU session and initiate T3582. (2) Connection establishment will be denied due to service area limitations. (3) 5GSM will wait for the guard timer to expire and retry the procedure a total of 5 times. When the maximum number of attempts is reached, the session is released locally. This is inefficient because it takes 40 seconds to release the PDU session, even though it is already known that PDU session signaling cannot be initiated in a non-allowed area.

[0059] Accordingly, the embodiment describes the release of a PDU session in 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE. If a UE in 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE intends to initiate the release of a PDU session, the UE must perform an immediate local release of the PDU session and initiate a mobility registration procedure using the PDU session status IE to indicate the release of the PDU session to the network. In other words, when it is already known that 5GSM procedures are not allowed, it is preferable not to attempt PDU session release signaling at all. FIG. 5 illustrates in block (502) that routine (500) determines whether to initiate the release of a PDU session. In block (504), routine (500) performs an immediate local release of the PDU session. In block (506), routine (500) initiates a mobility registration procedure using the PDU session status information element (IE) to indicate the release of the PDU session to the network.

[0060] Alternatively, when the UE is in 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE or camps on in a trace area where service restrictions apply, the UE is allowed to initiate the PDU session release signaling procedure, that is, it is also possible to transmit via air messages for PDU session release. Restrictions on other 5GSM procedures are still applicable.

[0061] The embodiments will now be described by exemplary changes to the TS 24.501 specification, “6.4.3.5 Abnormal Cases in UE”. The following abnormal cases may be identified: (D) signaling for the release of a restricted PDU session due to service area limitations. The UE must release the allocated PTI, perform local release of the PDU session, and, if the PDU session is an MA PDU session, perform a registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration updates using a registration request message containing the PDU session status IE, across each access where user plane resources were established, or if the PDU session is a single access PDU, across the access associated with the PDU session.

[0062] Another problem with SARs is that even if the follow-on-request bit is set, it is possible to recognize that the pending service cannot be initiated due to the SARs upon receiving the registration acceptance. Currently, handling for this use case is missing from the specification. A typical scenario is as follows: (1) A UE has pending 5GSM signaling and registration. (2) The UE initiates registration using a follow-on-request flag set to TRUE. (3) The network accepts the registration and also indicates follow-on-proceed. (4) Additionally, the current registration area is provided as part of the non-allowed area in the registration acceptance. (5) The network extends the connection due to the acceptance of FOR. (6) However, the UE cannot initiate 5GSM signaling because 5GSM signaling (not due to urgent / high priority) is not allowed when SAR restrictions apply. Two embodiments address this problem.

[0063] In the first embodiment, in such a use case, the UE needs to immediately release the signaling connection after the registration procedure is completed. Alternatively, it is possible for the UE to start a T3540 timer to guard against disconnection. FIG. 6 illustrates that in block (602), routine (600) receives a registration acceptance message from the network indicating that the current registration area is provided as part of a non-allowed area. In block (604), routine (600) releases the N1 NAS signaling connection after the registration procedure is completed when it is assessed that pending signaling procedures or data sessions cannot be initiated due to service area restrictions.

[0064] The first embodiment will now be described by exemplary changes to the TS 24.501 specification, “5.3.1.3 Release of N1 NAS signaling connection”. If a UE has set the follow-up request indicator in the registration request message to “follow-up request pending” due to pending uplink signaling, but cannot transmit the pending signaling due to service area limitations or because the network does not support features as indicated in the registration acceptance message (e.g., if the UE has set “follow-up request pending” to transmit SMS over the NAS, but the AMF has notified “SMS over NAS not allowed”), and if no additional pending data or signaling exists and user plane resources are not set up, the UE may locally release the established N1 NAS signaling connection upon completion of the registration process.

[0065] In the second embodiment, if the UE indicates a follow-up request in the registration request, and the AMF can deduce, based on an established cause or any other mechanism, that the pending request is not urgent or of high priority, and if the UE's current registration area is part of a service area limitation, the network should not indicate a follow-up request and should release the N1 signaling connection after the completion of the procedure.

[0066] Another issue with SARs is the avoidance of redundant mobility registration update procedures in non-allowed areas. UEs are permitted to trigger mobility registration to request access to new slices. However, UEs within restricted service areas will not be allowed to access any of the services provided by a slice due to 5GSM signaling limitations (i.e., the UE cannot establish a PDU session for the requested slice). Consequently, these new slice-triggered mobility registrations can be avoided until the UE leaves the restricted area. This generates unnecessary signaling as the UE repeatedly connects to and disconnects from new slices. The current proposal appears to avoid this.

[0067] To resolve this issue, when a request for access to a new slice is received and the UE is currently camping on to a cell (the cell's tracking area is part of a restricted area), the UE should not respect the request for access to the new slice but should locally deny it to the upper layers. This means that no activity is initiated toward the network. The modem itself denies the request based on evaluating the criteria for service area restrictions. However, requests associated with high-priority or urgent services must be respected. A UE with 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE or a UE camping on to a tracking area where service restrictions apply and having at least one S-NSSAI within an allowed NSSAI should not attempt to request access to new slices other than those associated with high-priority access or urgent services. FIG. 7 illustrates that in block (702), routine (700) receives a request for access to a new slice when the UE is currently camping on to a cell that is part of a restricted area. In block (704), routine (700) locally denies requests for access to new slices to upper layers, excluding high priority or urgent services.

[0068] As mentioned above, not attempting to request access to new slices other than those associated with high-priority access or urgency can also be considered an independent enhancement. For example, whenever someone taps an app and that tap triggers a mobility registration request for a slice, the user cannot obtain the normal service for that app (unless the app is a high-priority service). If a user requests access to a new slice where they would not be able to establish arbitrary PDU sessions anyway, it is desirable to limit unnecessary signaling toward the network.

[0069] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating components (800) according to some exemplary embodiments capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transient machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic representation of hardware resources (802) comprising one or more processors (806) (or processor cores), one or more memory / storage devices (814), and one or more communication resources (824), each of which may be coupled to communicate via a bus (816). In embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor (822) may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / subslices to utilize the hardware resources (802).

[0070] Processors (806) (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a RISC (reduced instruction set computing) processor, a CISC (complex instruction set computing) processor, a GPU (graphics processing unit), a baseband processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit), an RFIC (radio-frequency integrated circuit), other processors, or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor (808) and a processor (810).

[0071] The memory / storage devices (814) may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage devices (814) may include any type of volatile or non-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random-access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state storage, etc., but are not limited thereto.

[0072] Communication resources (824) may include interconnect or network interface components or other suitable devices for communicating with one or more peripheral devices (804) or one or more databases (820) via a network (818). For example, communication resources (824) may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB (Universal Serial Bus)), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components.

[0073] Instructions (812) may include software, programs, applications, applets, apps, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors (806) to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Instructions (812) may exist wholly or partially in at least one of the processors (806) (e.g., in the processor's cache memory), memory / storage devices (814), or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any part of the instructions (812) may be transferred to hardware resources (802) from any combination of peripheral devices (804) or databases (820). Thus, the memory of the processors (806), memory / storage devices (814), peripheral devices (804), and databases (820) are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0074] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components described in one or more of the prior art drawings may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods as described in the embodiments section below. For example, a baseband circuit as described above in relation to one or more of the prior art drawings may be configured to operate according to one or more of the embodiments described below. As another example, a circuit associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in relation to one or more of the prior art drawings may be configured to operate according to one or more of the embodiments described in the embodiments section below.

[0075] Example Section

[0076] The following examples relate to additional examples.

[0077] Example 1. A method for associating service area restrictions (SARs) performed by a user equipment (UE) for 5G system (5GS) mobility management (5GMM) with a cell on which the UE camps on, the method comprising: determining criteria including whether the current tracking area is included in the registration area, whether the update status in the UE is 5U1, and whether the cell is part of a non-allowed area or is a registered public terrestrial mobile network (PLMN) or an equivalent PLMN that is not part of an allowed area; and selecting a 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate in response to determining that the criteria are satisfied.

[0078] Example 2. In the method of Example 1, the restrictions applicable to a UE in the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate are also applicable to a selected substate including at least one of the 5GMM.REGISTERED.UPDATE-NEEDED and 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE substates, assuming that the UE camps on to a cell that is part of the non-allowed area or camps on to a cell of a registered PLMN or equivalent PLMN that is not part of the allowed area, such that all restrictions applicable to the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate are also applicable to the selected substate in addition to any restrictions already associated with the selected substate.

[0079] Example 3. A method for performing additional actions on a UE in the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate, performed by a user device (UE) for 5G system (5GS) mobility management (5GMM) in a network, the method comprising the step of moving to the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate and initiating mobility registration in the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate in response to the registration of the UE being denied by the network due to the absence of any allowed network slices; and when the UE is in the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate and receives a request from the upper layer to establish an emergency PDU session or perform an emergency service fallback, if the UE's update state is other than 5U1 or if the current tracking area is not part of the registration area, the step of initiating mobility registration in the 5GMM.REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate is included.

[0080] Example 4. The method of Example 3 further includes the step of resetting the registration attempt counter when the UE is in 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE and enters a new tracking area.

[0081] Example 5. The method of Example 3 further includes the step of resetting the registration attempt counter when the UE is in 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE and timer T3502 expires.

[0082] Example 6. The method of Example 3 further includes the step of resetting the registration attempt counter when the UE is in 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE and timer T3346 starts.

[0083] Example 7. A method for associating service area restrictions (SARs) to a cell to which the UE camps on, performed by a user device (UE) for 5G system (5GS) mobility management (5GMM), the method comprises: selecting a 5GMM substate other than the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate; and, in response to selecting the 5GMM substate and the UE camping on to a registration area to which the SAR applies, applying restrictions associated with 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE in addition to any restrictions to which the selected state may already be associated.

[0084] Example 8. A method for releasing a PDU session in a 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate, performed by a user device (UE) in a network for 5G system (5GS) mobility management (5GMM), the method comprises: determining whether to initiate release of the PDU session; performing an immediate local release of the PDU session; and initiating a mobility registration procedure using a PDU session state information element (IE) to indicate release of the PDU session to the network.

[0085] Example 9. The method of Example 8 further comprises the step of determining whether it is also possible for the UE to initiate a PDU session release; and the step of signaling toward the network when service area restrictions are applicable.

[0086] Example 10. A method for handling pending 5GSM signaling and registration using a follow-up request flag set to true in a registration procedure, performed by a user device (UE) for 5G system (5GS) mobility management (5GMM), the method comprises: receiving a registration acceptance message from a network indicating that the current registration area is provided as part of a non-allowed area; and releasing the N1 NAS signaling connection after the registration procedure is completed when it is assessed that pending signaling procedures or data sessions cannot be initiated due to service area restrictions.

[0087] Example 11. The method of Example 10 further includes the step of starting a T3540 timer to guard disconnection.

[0088] Example 12. The method of Example 10 further includes the step of causing the network to release the N1 signaling connection after the registration procedure is completed.

[0089] Example 13. A method for bypassing a redundant mobility registration update procedure in an unallowed area, performed by a user device (UE) for 5G system (5GS) mobility management (5GMM), the method comprises: receiving a request for access to a new slice when the UE is currently camping on in a cell that is part of a restricted area; and locally denying the request for access to the new slice to upper layers, excluding high priority or urgent services.

[0090] Example 14. As a non-transient computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium comprises instructions that, when executed by a UE, cause the UE to determine criteria including whether the current tracking area is included in the registration area, whether the update status in the UE is 5U1, and whether the cell is part of a non-allowed area or is a registered public terrestrial mobile network (PLMN) or an equivalent PLMN that is not part of an allowed area; and in response to determining that the criteria are satisfied, cause the UE to select the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate.

[0091] Example 15. In the non-transient computer-readable storage medium of Example 14, the restrictions applicable to a UE in the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate are also applicable to a selected substate comprising at least one of the 5GMM.REGISTERED.UPDATE-NEEDED and 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE substates, assuming that the UE camps on to a cell that is part of the non-allowed area or camps on to a cell of a registered PLMN or equivalent PLMN that is not part of the allowed area, such that all restrictions applicable to the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate are also applicable to the selected substate in addition to any restrictions already associated with the selected substate.

[0092] Example 16. As a non-transient computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium comprises instructions that, when executed by a UE, cause the UE to move to the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate in response to the UE's registration being denied by the network due to the absence of any allowed network slices, and to initiate mobility registration in the 5GMM.REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate; and when the UE is in the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate and receives a request from the upper layer to establish an urgent PDU session or perform an urgent service fallback, if the UE's update state is anything other than 5U1 or if the current trace area is not part of the registration area, to initiate mobility registration in the 5GMM.REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate.

[0093] Example 17. In the non-transient computer-readable storage medium of Example 16, the instructions further configure the UE to reset the registration attempt counter when the UE is in 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE and enters a new tracking area.

[0094] Example 18. In the non-transient computer-readable storage medium of Example 16, the instructions further configure the UE to reset the registration attempt counter when the UE is in 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE and timer T3502 expires.

[0095] Example 19. In the non-transient computer-readable storage medium of Example 16, the instructions further configure the UE to reset the registration attempt counter when the UE is in 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE and timer T3346 starts.

[0096] Example 20. As a non-transient computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium comprises instructions that, when executed by a UE, cause the UE to select a 5GMM substate other than the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate; and, in response to the selection of the 5GMM substate and the UE camping on to a registration area to which SAR applies, cause the selected state to apply restrictions associated with 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE in addition to any restrictions to which it may already be associated.

[0097] Example 21. As a non-transient computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium comprises instructions that, when executed by a UE, cause the UE to determine whether to initiate the release of a PDU session; to perform an immediate local release of a PDU session; and to initiate a mobility registration procedure using a PDU session state information element (IE) to indicate the release of a PDU session to a network.

[0098] Example 22. In the non-transient computer-readable storage medium of Example 21, the instructions further determine whether it is also possible for the UE to initiate a PDU session release; and configure the UE to signal toward the network when service area restrictions are applicable.

[0099] Example 23. As a non-transient computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium comprises instructions that, when executed by a UE, cause the UE to receive a registration acceptance message from a network indicating that the current registration area is provided as part of a non-allowed area; and, upon evaluation that pending signaling procedures or data sessions cannot be initiated due to service area restrictions, cause the N1 NAS signaling connection to be released after the registration procedure is completed.

[0100] Example 24. In the non-transient computer-readable storage medium of Example 23, the instructions additionally configure the UE to start a T3540 timer to guard against disconnection.

[0101] Example 25. In the non-transient computer-readable storage medium of Example 23, the instructions further configure the UE to cause the network to release the N1 signaling connection after the registration procedure is completed.

[0102] Example 26. As a non-transient computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium comprises instructions that, when executed by a UE, cause the UE to receive a request for access to a new slice when the UE is currently camping on a cell that is part of a restricted area; and locally deny the request for access to a new slice to upper layers, excluding high-priority or urgent services.

[0103] Example 1C may include a device comprising means for performing one or more elements of a method described or related to any of the above examples, or any other method or process described herein.

[0104] Example 2C may comprise one or more non-transient computer-readable media containing instructions, the instructions causing an electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described or related thereto in any of the above examples, or any other method or process described herein, when the instructions are executed by one or more processors of the electronic device.

[0105] Example 3C may include a device comprising logic, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of a method described or related to any of the above examples, or any other method or process described herein.

[0106] Example 4C may include any of the above examples, or parts thereof, or methods, techniques, or processes described or related thereto.

[0107] Example 5C may include an apparatus comprising one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause one or more processors to perform methods, techniques, or processes such as those described or related thereto in any of the above examples, or parts thereof.

[0108] Example 6C may include a signal as described or related thereto in any of the above examples, or parts thereof.

[0109] Example 7C may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described or related to any of the above examples, or parts thereof, or as otherwise described in the present invention.

[0110] Example 8C may include a signal encoded in data such as that described or related to any of the above examples, or parts thereof, or as otherwise described in the present invention.

[0111] Example 9C may include a signal encoded as a datagram, packet, frame, segment, PDU, or message as described or related in any of the above examples, or parts thereof, or as otherwise described in the present invention.

[0112] Example 10C may include an electromagnetic signal that carries computer-readable instructions, wherein the execution of computer-readable instructions by one or more processors is intended to cause one or more processors to perform methods, techniques, or processes such as those described or related thereto in any of the above examples, or parts thereof.

[0113] Example 11C may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element is intended to cause the processing element to perform methods, techniques, or processes such as those described or related thereto in any of the above examples, or parts thereof.

[0114] Example 12C may include a signal within a wireless network as illustrated and described in this specification.

[0115] Example 13C may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as illustrated and described in this specification.

[0116] Example 14C may include a system for providing wireless communication as illustrated and described in this specification.

[0117] Example 15C may include a device for providing wireless communication as illustrated and described in this specification.

[0118] Any of the embodiments described above may be combined with any other embodiments (or combinations of embodiments) unless otherwise clearly indicated. The foregoing description of one or more embodiments is for illustrative and descriptive purposes only and is not intended to be comprehensive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the exact form disclosed. Modifications and variations may be possible in consideration of the above teachings or may be obtained from the practice of various embodiments.

[0119] The embodiments and implementations of the systems and methods described herein may include various operations that can be implemented as machine-executable instructions to be executed by a computer system. The computer system may include one or more general-purpose or special-purpose computers (or other electronic devices). The computer system may include hardware components that include specific logic for performing operations, or may include a combination of hardware, software, and / or firmware.

[0120] It should be recognized that the systems described herein include descriptions of specific embodiments. These embodiments may be combined into single systems, partially combined into other systems, divided into multiple systems, or divided or combined in other ways. Additionally, it is considered that parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. of one embodiment may be used in other embodiments. It is recognized that parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. are described in only one or more embodiments for clarity, and that parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. may be combined with or replaced by parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. of other embodiments unless specifically disclaimed herein.

[0121] It is well understood that the use of personally identifiable information must follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or government requirements for maintaining users' privacy. In particular, personally identifiable information data must be managed and handled to minimize the risk of unintended or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use must be clearly indicated to users.

[0122] Although the foregoing has been described in some detail for the sake of clarity, it will be apparent that specific changes and modifications may be made without departing from the principles of the invention. It should be noted that there are many alternative ways to implement both the processes and apparatuses described herein. Accordingly, the embodiments shall be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive, and the description is not limited to the details given herein but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.

Claims

Claim 1 A method for associating service area restrictions (SARs) to a cell on which the UE camps, performed by a user device (UE) for 5G system (5GS) mobility management (5GMM), comprising: determining criteria including whether the current tracking area is included in the registration area, whether the update status in the UE is 5U1, and whether the cell is part of a non-allowed area or is a registered public terrestrial mobile network (PLMN) or an equivalent PLMN that is not part of an allowed area; and selecting a 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate in response to determining that the criteria are satisfied. Claim 2 A method for associating service area restrictions to a cell, wherein, assuming that the cell on which the UE camps is part of the non-allowed area or is not part of the allowed area, is applicable to a selected substate including at least one of the 5GMM.REGISTERED.UPDATE-NEEDED and 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE substates, all restrictions applicable to the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate are also applicable to the selected substate in addition to any restrictions already associated with the selected substate. Claim 3 delete Claim 4 delete Claim 5 delete Claim 6 delete Claim 7 delete Claim 8 delete Claim 9 delete Claim 10 delete Claim 11 delete Claim 12 delete Claim 13 delete Claim 14 A non-transient computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium comprises instructions that, when executed by a UE, cause the UE to determine criteria including whether the current tracking area is included in the registration area, whether the update status in the UE is 5U1, and whether the cell is part of a non-allowed area or is a registered public terrestrial mobile network (PLMN) or an equivalent PLMN that is not part of an allowed area; and, in response to determining that the criteria are satisfied, cause the UE to select the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate. Claim 15 In paragraph 14, the restrictions applicable to the UE in the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate are also applicable in a selected substate comprising at least one of the 5GMM.REGISTERED.UPDATE-NEEDED and 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE substates, assuming that the cell on which the UE camps is part of the non-allowed area or is not part of the allowed area, and that all restrictions applicable in the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate are also applicable in the selected substate in addition to any restrictions already associated with the selected substate, a non-transient computer-readable storage medium. Claim 16 delete Claim 17 delete Claim 18 delete Claim 19 delete Claim 20 delete Claim 21 delete Claim 22 delete Claim 23 delete Claim 24 delete Claim 25 delete Claim 26 delete

Images